Gareth Bale Unlikely to Play 90 Minutes on Real Madrid Debut

Gareth Bale is unlikely to complete a full 90 minutes on his Real Madrid debut despite making his first appearance of the season for Wales in the World Cup qualifying defeat to Serbia, according to national team boss Chris Coleman.

Bale missed much of Tottenham Hotspur's pre-season schedule while negotiating his move to the Bernabeu and is severely short of match fitness, with Coleman omitting the 24 year old from the team that lost to Macedonia on Friday.

But the Madrid new boy played 32 minutes in the qualifying defeat to Serbia on Tuesday night, to raise hopes over a potential debut for Real's trip to Villarreal on Saturday, however Coleman doesn't expected Bale to end the game should he earn his first start.

"He played 30 minutes but after 15 minutes he looked tired -- but he has only had four training sessions, so you will not get what you normally get," Coleman warned.

"But he gave us a lift, the fans were excited and it gave us a spur, although the game was done and dusted. We needed to be in the game, it was lost by then, but it was nice for the Welsh supporters to see him.

"If he starts Saturday he will not finish the game, I would be amazed if he does. He is nowhere near ready for 90 minutes even if Spanish football is slower. He may get 45 minutes, I don't know, but he will feel better in himself after 30 minutes."

Despite being short of match fitness, Bale impressed during his cameo appearance at the Cardiff City Stadium as Wales' World Cup dream officially faded with a 3-0 loss to Serbia.

The ex-Tottenham man will no doubt be the star attraction this weekend as Real travel to Villarreal and Bale wrote on Twitter after Tuesday's game: "Great to finally get back to playing tonight, shame about the result though. Can't wait to get to Madrid tomorrow."

While Bale makes his debut in Madrid, Tottenham will likely be handing first appearances to the players who were signed as a result of the Welshman's world record transfer with Christian Eriksen and Vlad Chiriches still to make their bow for the north Londoners.